In our recently published annual report we have taken a broader look at the development of the fingerprint market and its key drivers. One of the main driving factors is the increase in mobile payments. The fact that most of today’s smartphones are equipped with biometric technology enhances both convenience and security of mobile payments. According to Acuity Research the number of mobile payments executed using biometrics is expected to rise with 44 per cent each year between 2016 and 2022. Today the major mobile payment services, financial institutions and e-commerce services support biometric authentication.
As our mobile devices are becoming units for personal identification to different kind of applications and services, stronger identity proofing is required. One example is the European PSD2 directive, demanding two-factor authentication for electronic payment services and bank transactions. This will spur the use of biometric two-factor authentication, combining fingerprint technology with other biometric modalities such as face recognition or behavioral-based recognition as it’s more secure and convenient than the combination with a PIN-code.
The second driving factor, biometric payment cards, are expected to be a major growth market for fingerprint technology the next few years. Contactless biometric payment cards increase protection against fraud, and they are more user-friendly than payment cards with PIN-code verification. It is a challenge to meet the payment providers’ demands on matching speed and biometric performance as the memory and processing power is limited on smart cards but the last year we have seen several successful test projects with biometric smart cards.
This is a summary of the article “Payments & Financial Services are driving the biometrics market” from Precise Biometrics’ annual report. The full version provides deeper insights in the mobile fingerprint market, where it’s heading and how new slick mobile designs are affecting it. In the article you can also read more about biometric smart cards and the development in new areas of application.